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What the heck, I figure that this might be fun!
1 favorite = 1 favorite film from each year, working backwards from 2022.
I'm prepared to go as far back as the origins of film itself if it comes to that.
1951: The Day the Earth Stood Still
One more time: Robert Wise is a damn genius.
1950s sci-fi gets a lot of razzing for being silly hokum where the heights of silliness are matched only by the depths of the budget.
But this is different. This is paranoia cinema at its spacey best where the alien Klaatu (Michael Rennie in fine form) lands in D.C. and arrives with peaceful intentions, only to face violence. This is not w/o consequence, as his robot guardian Gort snaps into action.
No matter which lens you choose to examine this through - a Cold War cautionary tale, a religiously-themed allegory, or a straightforward sci-fi adventure - this delivers the thrilling goods w/ a considerable, unignorable humanity. Wise's direction takes this narrative and its characters above & beyond.
And disregard the 2008 remake. (Sorry, Keanu.)
I also loved Strangers on a Train, Ace in the Hole, The African Queen, and Tales of Hoffman.
@optiMSTie I agree with you I remember watching this and being so impressed with the acting and dialogue.
SOOOOOOOOOOOO ridiculously better than it had any right being, and I shudder to think how this would've been in a less skilled director's hands.
Robert BY GOD Wise, y'all.
@optiMSTie I've seen it too many times to take an accurate count, but this exchange really leapt out at me the last time I saw it. It's between Helen and her smarmy would-be boyfriend, Tom, who's about to narc on Klaatu:
H: Tom, you mustn't -- ! You don't know what you're doing! It isn't just you and Mr. Carpenter. The rest of the world is involved!
T: I don't *care* about the rest of the world!
See, that?
That right there?
That's PERFECT. That's how you do storytelling.
And glad you dig it as you do!
@optiMSTie Such an incredibly, improbably good movie.
A fact worth remembering: it was released just four years after the start of the modern “flying saucer” era. This was a very topical movie about tense, newsworthy subject.
Mmhmm. And by handling everything with the solemnity and respect that they did, this movie ages much, *much* better than most of its brethren (looking at YOU, Plan 9 from Outer Space).
@optiMSTie
My grandfather, who was in the National Guard at the time, appears in one of the crowd scenes. We used to watch this movie and pick him out. I'm not sure I could do it now though.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT :D
How boss is that?!
Also, maddest respect to your grandfather.
@optiMSTie
He said it was a fun time, tearing around DC chasing aliens. Just one of those weird coincidences of life.
:)
Sakes alive, that's boss. I'm glad he had those experiences.
And what a coincidence that is, too, and how awesome it is to have that as a story!